In today's entry I'm going to talk less about myself (well, just a little) to try to help new artists with a little information on this thing of earning the food drawing.It will be almost a "what would you say to your younger self?" really, But I hope it will help a few of you to have fewer headaches and maintain stress levels in the norm of a freelance(?) Ok, let’s keep going.

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The truth is the entry is a bit too long for my liking ... If there is a lot of hurry, the short version is:

Define since now, that perfect career path for you. And start working on it.

Done, let's do it.

If you want to delve a little more with the long version, the why, some ideas on how to do it and what to avoid, start here:

What is your ideal job?

For some of you it may seem simple or had it clear since beginning of times.Bien por ti. But I often ask this question to new artists reviewing their portfolios and the rule is that they dont' have a clue. This is possibly the most important step in your creative path,It takes time and lots of push and pull, so the faster you start asking yourself, the better.And given the wide variety of options, I understand how overwhelming it can be. If you leave it aside, waiting for fate to decide for you, the possibilities of going in circles are huge.

This doesn't mean that you can choose a branch of the illustration and forget about the rest. Of course not. A company will first hire someone who can play 5 different roles in their production chain, rather than one that can only do just one. The more cards you have under your sleeve, the more opportunities to enter the industry into a good job. But it is important to know some general guidelines. A good analogy in this case: an action adventure game.There are thousands of side quests and you can do them all, but there are essential missions that will advance you in the plot of the game. This is the same thing. Knowing which are those missions that will make you advance your career faster is super important to not waste time chasing messengers on the roof (?)

Where it gets interesting is that unlike a game where the road has indicators, in real life, the options are very vast, and there are new technologies and new exploration fields every day, which make it very difficult To decide. And if you do not want to die of hunger, it is vital that whatever you choose to pursue, has a certain field of exploitation. The subject of designing shoes for centipedes for example, is at the least, complicated.

Fortunately, most of us have started out of love for something very particular, or we have heroes within one of the facets of art that have inspired you to take the first steps. This is great, because, it will make the deciding part much easier. Although, go carefully, it is important that you experiment lot and don’t stay with the first thing that comes to mind. Because imagine that there is luck and you catch a job in this, but it turns out that in fact you hate it, well, start overs, aren't that fun. Above all, try to look for something that you really enjoy. And if it is impossible to dfo it at this time, because of your current level, your situation, etc.Start planting seeds so that someday it will be your ideal job.

Tip: This thing abaout finding the right path for you, can take a lot of time for someof you, don't forget to study the fundamentals. There are no excuses, whatever you choose, these will still be useful.

Okay, before I mentioned about having several cards under your sleeve, I'll give you an example.Right now my work consists mainly of illustrations for covers and trading card games. Most of the descriptions that I receive with each commission are a complete surprise, you can find requests for the strangest creatures, weird armors and fashions, architecture of all types, worlds of all kinds.Ideally we could have all the time in the world, study each of the factors of each illustration separately, to achieve an optimal result. But the work is part of a larger machinery that can not be stopped to satisfy your need for perfection, the pay will not compensate the overtime investment, nor does the customer care in most cases. If the card looks cool, they will be happy.In this case, my (tiny) knowledge of 3D is an essential piece to save time and have better results. You do not need to have spent 3 years in a 3D course or even know everything certain software does. It would help, of course, but with knowing how to handle the viewport, model primitive shapes and put a camera. You have a very big advantage.

So any other creative facet that you like or interest you, do not stop practicing it or learning it because you choose another career path. Almost all have contact points withim each others in the creative world and the fundamentals in one field are applicable in another. Just try to keep the learning of these things from interrupting your main job or slowing you down. If you like photography, motion graphics, animation, comic, graphic design, videography etc, everything can serve to strengthen your main job.

Tip (?): I have great interest in almost all these things mentioned, what I usually do and I recommend: Take small vacations from time to time (two or three days) and try to learn something new from one of these other fields. It will help you to keep the rhythm, and it will keep you fresh and hungry of knowledge. Then you will return to your work with renewed strength.

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Another point I left in the air above is experimentation.It is the best way to check whether or not the path you choose will work. For later when we are in a more professional level, with customers waiting for your work, everything goes perfect and clients are happy with the result. Besides doing something you feel proud of.

Tip: In the learning process, try to approach the studies-exercises as if they came from a client (with a bit of previous research, you probably find how the dynamic is) and of course this is more fun in company, you can always use the help from artists friends who could do the rol of Art directors and help you with critics.

Obviously, you have to spend time researching what the options are. I guess you know at least the "family" you would like to explore more thoroughly (?) If Videogames, Comics, movies, editorial illustration, advertising etc.AMaybe you're a fan of Trading card Games, You love Magic! Well you have it easy to decide which way to go, no that easy to enter, although far from impossible. But in the meantime, you have a world of possibilities within the same format of illustrations that will give you work, and pieces for your portfolio: RPGs, Tabletop games, book covers, interior illustrations, etc.You may be interested in working in the world of video games. And you want to know more opportunities outside the concept art, character artist etc. With entering in the job offers page of some of the companies that you like, you can see the different types of artists they need, maybe you haven't heard before of some of those fields, google it, look for portfolios of that type of work in particular. Who knows, you may find that it is the best thing in the world and you weren't even aware of its existence.And the same thing with the other career paths.

Well I think that I don't leave too many things out (?) But I will be attentive to the comments in case you have any questions or doubts on the subject. I am already writing the couple next entries. I want to try a few of these on my blog, so, if you have any suggestions (and I know something about that) I will try to add it to my list of things to do.See you araound guys!